


Midnight Hour

by wrackwonder



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 11:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11531634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrackwonder/pseuds/wrackwonder
Summary: Waverly and Nicole have a much needed conversation. Continuation of Episode 2x06.





	Midnight Hour

There was blood spatter on her wildflower wallpaper. Technically, it was Willa’s wallpaper and it was the one decorative feature Waverly had hoped to save. As a child, she’d traced the pattern with her tiny fingers on the rare occasions Willa had let her in the room. Each petal was a world and they floated up to the ceiling, as if an unseen wind was moving them away from the ground. Waverly had always wanted to follow the flowers, up, away from the earth, and to the sky.

 

Except now the wildflowers were covered in blood. Blood from Tucker Gardner, who had been shot by her girlfriend, and Waverly wondered what it would be like to be normal. How would it feel to not have blood and shattered windows and broken staircases on a weekly basis.

 

She sank into the throw pillows on her newly assembled IKEA couch and stared at the wall, wondering how she could repair the latest damage. She’d hastily nailed a piece of plywood over the broken window, but the blood was going to be a problem. She could paint the whole room, but the blood would always be there, underneath, a stain, forever and ever ingrained in the wood. Just like Willa. Just like the Earp Curse.

 

Wynonna’s presence took up the whole house. She could feel her sister, like a poison gas, expanding and constricting from her first floor bedroom. Every inhale and every exhale echoed off the walls. Waverly knew without being able to see her that Wynonna was frowning in her sleep, that the corner of her eyes were red from the tears, that she was curled on her side around the bump. _The baby bump_.

 

When Waverly’s phone buzzed she nearly jumped. She’d completely forgotten it was wedged between the couch cushion and her thigh. What if it was Doc? Or Dolls? Whose job was it to deal with them? To keep them at bay? Was that _her_ responsibility? Where did she…

 

 _Nicole: Don’t be scared, it’s just me_.

 

The text glowed blue in the semi-darkened room and Waverly leaned back trying to find the breath that seemed lost in her lungs. The porch door opened and then there were footsteps, soft but sturdy, in the house. Waverly could hear them pad across the kitchen, pause in front of Wynonna’s room, and then slowly make their way up the stairs. She waited for only a second more before Nicole peeked her head in the room, her smile slightly guilty.

 

“Hey,” she whispered and Waverly could only muster a small grin back. Nicole stepped fully into the bedroom, glancing at the bloodstain for a second before settling down next to Waverly on the couch, a plastic bag at her side.

 

“Baby I’m really sorry about…that,” she gestured to the blood and bit her bottom lip, worrying it slightly against her teeth.

 

“It’s fine. I’m just glad you got him.” Nicole brought calm with her, as if somehow she contained a multitude summer breezes and sunny days and warm, perfect August nights. Waverly breathed differently when Nicole was around, she thought differently, and it was addictive and scary and so, incredibly welcome.

 

Waverly scooted over, pressing herself against Nicole’s side. She squeezed her girlfriend’s arm and found purchase on her shoulder and just the physical presence of Nicole beside her was enough to make the bloodstain look a little less stark, a little less like the end of the world.

 

“I know you said we’d see each other tomorrow and I’m sorry if this is overstepping…”

 

“No, Nicole…”

 

“I mean, this is a family thing, I totally get it, but I worry and I’m trying to give you space and let you be and…”

 

“Nicole…”

 

“I don’t want you to feel like I have these expectations or I need you to be a certain way, I just want to help if I can or if you want me too or maybe you don’t…”

 

“Nicole!” Waverly pushed away to look her girlfriend in the eye. She had been rambling a little, eyes wide and voice increasingly high pitched. It was both adorable and confusing, which was how Waverly felt about their relationship most of the time. Nicole was just so _Nicole_. She was _good_. Genuinely good in a way that most people weren’t anymore. And the dark edges in Waverly sometimes wondered why someone so good would want to be with someone so…Earp.

 

“Hey, where is all this coming from?” she asked, reaching up to run her fingers through Nicole’s hair. She brushed a few strands away from her ear, leaning forward to place a kiss on her temple. Nicole smelled like her citrus shampoo and vanilla body wash and whatever cleaning detergent she used. She smelled clean and fresh, she _was_ clean and fresh and so not like everything else in Waverly’s life.

 

For her part, Nicole looked sheepish, but Waverly found the slight blush charming.

 

“Possessed Wynonna may have said some things,” she confessed, shrugging and pulling at the sleeves of her oversized, maroon sweater.

 

“Possessed Wynonna was an asshole,” it came out harsher than Waverly had expected and she firmly closed her mouth, leaning back again to try and find that calm she’d had seconds before.

 

“You okay, Babe?”

 

Part of her wanted to laugh. The other wanted to cry. Was she okay? Was _she_ okay? She’d been possessed by a tentacle monster for seven weeks, fighting every waking moment against a legion of demonic forces. She didn’t know who or what she was. There was apparently a darkness inside her that should cause alarm. And her sister was pregnant. Very pregnant.

 

“No,” Waverly said and sighed with relief as she did. Nicole snuggled closer, wrapping one arm around Waverly’s shoulders to bring her into a cuddle.

 

“I’m scared that if I say how I really feel, I’ll never be able to stop talking. Or it will be so terrible that I’ll hate myself.”

 

“Just a sec,” Nicole said, surprising Waverly as she jumped off the couch and quickly closed the bedroom door. “Anything you say in here stays in here. Just you and me, Babe. No judgment.”

 

There was still blood spatter on the wall. And broken glass on the floor. But the wildflower wallpaper was also still there. And her new, comfy bed sheets that had miraculously avoided the gore. Her clothes were in the closet and her belongings were on the shelves and her adorable girlfriend was sitting beside her holding her hand. And even though she could still sense Wynonna permeating the very foundations of the homestead, she let herself melt into Nicole, using the woman for oxygen and light and water. She ran her nose along Nicole’s jaw and kissed the corner of her mouth and then buried her face in Nicole’s neck. It was dark and warm and nothing bad could ever happen there.

 

“My entire life has been about Wynonna,” she whispered, curling her arms around Nicole’s middle. She’d tossed her legs across Nicole’s lap and now they were huddled together on the couch, so close that not even a throw pillow could find its way between them.

 

“Even after Daddy died, when they took her away, she was _here_. Gus and Curtis talked about her all the time and I missed her so much. At school I was “Crazy Wynonna Earp’s” little sister or when she finally came home she caused so much trouble. I was always trying to defend her or talk her out of doing stupid thing. And then she just took off again and I never stopped thinking about her. She’s just _here_. Even when she’s not.”

 

Waverly felt Nicole nod against her forehead and she took it as a sign to keep talking.

 

“She didn’t want this baby. And now she doesn’t have a choice. At all. And it makes me nauseous to think about that…”

 

“You think she wouldn’t have had it?” Nicole asked, softly.

 

“No? I don’t know? But…I don’t think she _wanted_ to have it. I don’t think she’d had time to even think about it and now, it’s out of her hands and I don’t know what all of this mean.”

 

“The fact that she’s having a baby or that she didn’t want it or…” Nicole trailed off, again letting Waverly have the quiet for herself.

 

“My sister is pregnant with a baby she probably doesn’t want. And the father is a guy that was cursed by a witch and I mean…I can’t exactly Google what curses do to genetics? Or what demon curses do? Or whether or not getting pregnant by an immortal poker player will affect the baby’s health or Wynonna?”

 

Waverly leaned back and rested her head on her hand. Nicole mirrored her, eyes round and concerned.

 

“Doc said he was all in. And Dolls is probably going to be in too. But at the end of the day, Wynonna is _my_ sister and that is _my_ niece or nephew and I _have_ to be all in. I want to be in. But I’m really…I don’t know how to say this without sounding awful…”

 

“It’s just me, Waves. It’s okay.”

 

“I wasn’t ready either.” The words seemed to take on life, floating like the wildflowers from Waverly’s mouth and up, up, above their heads. They hovered and Waverly wasn’t sure if she felt good that they were out or terrible that she had finally said what she’d been trying to avoid for days.

 

“I’m in…I mean, I’m in with _you_ , as long as you want me to be,” Nicole said. She seemed to be blushing a lot. But her words made Waverly feel heavy and overwhelmed.

 

“We’ve been together for a few months and half of that time I was tenencle’d and now we have to talk about the fact that I’m likely going to be co-parenting a baby.” Waverly felt herself pouting. It was immature, but Nicole had said everything was okay in this space, in this moment. And she was trying to take that in stride.

 

“Waves, you don’t _have_ to co-parent this baby if you don’t want to. It’s not your responsibility to do that.”

 

“Yes,” Waverly said, “it is. Because it’s Wynonna.”

 

While Nicole considered her words, Waverly waited, because she didn’t know how to tell her girlfriend that Wynonna was and would always be the love of her life. Waverly loved Nicole, she was in love with Nicole. Romantically, Nicole was the be all and end all of her world. But if Nicole was her heart, Wynonna was her soul and she didn’t know how Nicole would take that or negotiate it or whether it was even fair to bring Nicole into this weird family of ancient poker players and dragons and demons.

 

“Okay,” Nicole nodded and furrowed her brow, as if each word spoken was coming to her slowly, “I think I understand. At least, I’m trying to. I guess I just worry about you and all you’ve been through…”

 

“Are you referring to the possession? The dismemberment?”

 

“Wait, _dismemberment_?” Nicole nearly bounced off the couch and Waverly had to pull her back, shooting her an apologetic smile.

 

“Tentacle stuff. Seriously, I’m fine.”

 

“God, Waverly…”

 

“I know. You sure you want all of this?” Waverly gestured from herself to the bloody wall and then beyond, as if her hand could encapsulate Wynonna and the Earp curse and the little, growing, potentially demonic baby inside Wynonna’s womb. It was supposed to be light hearted, a little joke, but her words caught at the end because _oh my god Wynonna was pregnant_.

 

“Hey, come here,” Nicole’s thumbs brushed away Waverly’s tears before she pulled her closer, pressing her lips to Waverly’s forehead.

 

“Yes. I’m in. I swear, Waverly, I’m _in_.”

 

“Even though I’m probably going to spend the next eighteen years babysitting?” Waverly wasn’t sure if she was referring to the baby or Wynonna or even Doc and Dolls.

 

“Yeah, I mean, I like kids so…”

 

 _Oh_. _Oh no_. It was way too early to have _this_ conversation and Nicole’s body tensed and Waverly felt her eyes go comically wide because they were still so new and it was good that Nicole liked kids, really, really good, and it wasn’t like Waverly hadn’t nearly died from the cuteness of a Nicole Haught baby picture she had seen once but still, too early, way too early.

 

“Don’t worry, Nicole, I googled ‘U-Hauling’ and we are so not going to do that, okay?”

 

Nicole blinked and then laughed and the tension broke.

 

“You googled U-Hauling?”

 

“Of course. I research!” Nicole’s laughter did that calming thing only she could do and Waverly couldn’t help but kiss Nicole just below her ear. Her hair smelled so good and her skin always felt soft and smooth and everything about her girlfriend was delicious.

 

“Speaking of research, I brought you something.”

 

Waverly frowned as Nicole turned her face away to the long forgotten plastic bag beside her on the couch. But the promise of presents quickly made up for the absence of Nicole’s face near her lips.

 

“I know you’re probably doing most of your research online, but they say this is the best and I was in the town over to pick up a case file and…”

 

There was suddenly a copy of _What to Expect When You’re Expecting_ in Waverly’s hands and the weight of it felt more comforting than frightening. WebMD was an endless labyrinth of links and warnings, but this book was solid, it had a beginning and an end and Waverly could do this, she could read and learn and memorize and highlight.

 

“Oh, Baby, this is perfect!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Anything else in that bag?” Waverly could see Nicole fidgeting slightly, as if she was trying to decide whether to reveal whatever had come with the book.

 

“It’s probably silly,” Nicole said as she raised a small, plush polar bear from her side.

 

“Is that for the baby?”

 

“Maybe? I remembered you talking about going to see them someday, up in Canada and I saw this little guy and he was so cute and…”

 

This time Waverly didn’t plant a soft kiss on Nicole’s jaw. She reached for her girlfriend’s face, brushing her fingers over soft, wanting lips before kissing them with her own. Nicole moaned into her as Waverly’s tongue swept over her top lip, licking Nicole, tasting her.

 

“You’re amazing,” Waverly panted when she pulled back and Nicole could only nod and look slightly shell-shocked.

 

“So you like?”

 

“I love,” Waverly said before she could really think about and they both blushed. They hadn’t said _it_ yet, even though they felt it, and Waverly had said it to Wynonna and Wynonna had said it to Nicole. But Waverly wanted to keep it in for a little longer, she wanted to feel the tension and awkwardness and joy at the knowing. Because they wouldn’t get another first time to say it to each other so Waverly was savouring the anticipation and from the looks of it, so was Nicole.

 

“You’re allowed to be scared and unsure and angry, Waves,” Nicole whispered. Waverly held the little polar bear in her lap, squeezing it with one hand and then turned to press her forehead against Nicole’s again.

 

“She drank a lot. Before she knew. She drank.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Stay?”

 

Waverly couldn’t leave Wynonna. There was no way in hell she was letting Wynonna spend the night alone. But, perhaps selfishly, Waverly wanted Nicole too. For herself. She wanted her person with her because it helped her feel strong and brave and be everything that Wynonna needed her to be. She’d spent her whole life wanting to be more like Wynonna, but Nicole made her feel like being just Waverly was maybe enough. More than enough. And it was intoxicating to feel like that.

 

“Of course,” Nicole said. They both changed into pyjamas quietly, Nicole slipping into a pair of boxers and a t-shirt she had left behind. They brushed their teeth side by side and then slipped into Waverly’s bed and it all felt very domestic and _normal_ and Waverly was grateful for a temporary reprieve from the _not normal_ that was her every waking moment. She fell asleep to the sound of Nicole’s breathing and the reassuring beats of Nicole’s heart and in her last moment of consciousness Waverly knew that she wanted this to be forever. U-Hauling be damned.

 

~*~

 

When Waverly tried to stretch the next morning, her hand brushed into something warm and solid and round and it made her nearly yelp in surprise when she opened her eyes. Because Wynonna was lying beside her, sleeping on top of the covers with a blanket messily pulled on top of her. And Nicole was doing her big-spoon duties diligently so Waverly was squished between her girlfriend and her sister and a stuffed polar bear that had found its way into the mix.

 

For a moment she just let herself feel Nicole behind her, because Wynonna and Wynonna’s bump were still a little scary and a little unknown. But Nicole was _Nicole_ and just having the weight of her there, the softness of her body against Waverly’s back was enough for Waverly to find that courage she desperately wanted to find. She reached out, carefully, and pressed her fingertips to the t-shirt covered baby belly beside her. It was solid and it was warm and Waverly reminded herself to exhale.

 

Nicole was here and so was Wynonna. They were both _here_ with her. And as she watched her own hand curve over her sister’s tummy, she let herself imagine what it could be like when baby Earp arrived. She thought about the sound of little feet and the dimples. She thought about all the books she could share and the way Nicole would look rocking a baby to sleep. And it was good. Despite all the unknowns and the fear, the pictures in her head were beautiful. So she closed her eyes again, letting herself be lulled by the fantasy, releasing the warm oranges and reds and yellows of her imagination up, up like the wildflowers until she fell asleep again, safe in Nicole’s arms, her own hand protectively resting on Wynonna.

 

And in the second before succumbing to sleep Waverly smiled because maybe she could do this after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings all! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading my work. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. As always, if you have a moment to spare, could you leave a comment? Let me know how you you think I'm doing?
> 
> I will also be entering the Bella Books Fan Fic contest so if there's a fic of mine (that's between 2-3000 words) you like best, could you also let me know? Your support over the years has given me so much joy and hearing your opinions fuels me to write more.
> 
> Thanks again!


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